Psychic Detective Yakumo

Despite all the distractions and despite the fact that the neighbors were blowing fireworks like crazy, I was able to update today. It's funny that I could only write (type) when I'm completely by myself. It's one am and I'm still downstairs with only a small lamp on. I would be scared to death if I didn't have my music.

Anyways, that doesn't matter right now. I would like to thank everyone that has been following, reading and reviewing my story up until now! You don't know how much I appreciate that! PDY is just one of the best animes out there and I just love it so much! I ship Haruka and Yakumo before any other anime couple out there. If they ever do get together in the manga, I think I'll just cry! So, please excuse my grammatical errors and I hope this chapter meets your expectations!

Won't Give Up

Chapter 21 - Reaching Out

There was snickering and laughter among the students. Haruka had tried to ignore them, but her patience was running low. How was she suppose to teach that way? Haruka continued on, turning her back on them to write something on the board. The whispers wouldn't cease, though and it was all because of Kaoru Miyazaki. He was snoring in the middle of class, in the middle of her lesson, creating an uproar among everyone.

Haruka turned back around and the class fell to an immediate silence. They all looked at Miyazaki, who was snoring away in dreamland. Haruka could feel her eyebrow twitching as she gripped on the textbook she was holding. She had been teaching for over week already and Kaoru Miyazaki's behavior had gotten from bad to worse. He never turned in his work. He never paid attention when she was talking. He would cause trouble at all times. What angered her the most, though, was the fact that he gave her no respect at all. She was his teacher, but he never treated her that way.

Losing the little patience she had left, Haruka slowly started walking toward Miyazki's desk. Even though she was standing right in front of him, he continued on sleeping and he probably didn't even notice her presence. Haruka tapped his head several times with the textbook and when she received no response, she whacked him a little bit harder. "Miyazaki-san! This is no time to be sleeping! We're in the middle of an important lesson and you're interrupting the entire class!"

"You didn't have to hit me so hard!" He complained as he rubbed the back of his head. He sat up from the desk and gave her glare that was probably ten times scarier than Yakumo's. Haruka gulped, but she didn't let herself get intimidated. "Maybe I wouldn't fall asleep if you weren't so boring! Haven't you ever thought about that? Why don't you do us a favor and go back to wherever you came from?"

Haruka could feel her cheeks flushing with embarrassment as the class erupted in laughter. Slamming her hand on his desk, Haruka finally decided that she had had enough. She couldn't continue teaching that way. She had no authority over her class and Kaoru Miyazaki was making everything worse. "That's it. I want you to step outside. I'm not going to deal with you anymore."

"What if I don't want to?" He told her as he crossed his hands, giving her a defying look. She didn't understand why he treated her that way. Her class wouldn't be half bad if he wasn't around. He was the troublemaker and he made her life ten thousand times harder than it already was. It made her sad to think that she was miserable in school and lonely at home. "What are you going to if I don't? Huh?"

Leaning in a bit closer, Haruka tried to make a threatening face. "If you don't step out right now, I will send you to the principal's office and request a parent conference. How does that sound, Miyazaki-san?"

He stayed quiet, but his glare was enough to make her take a step back. He stood up, placing his hands in his pockets and without saying another word, he slowly walked out the classroom. Haruka watched him for a couple of moments before she turned her attention back to her class. "Okay, please copy what's on the board. That's your homework for tonight. I need to step out for a bit."

With that being said, Haruka headed toward the door to go after Miyazaki. She needed to have a talk with him before he made her regret becoming a teacher. Haruka stepped outside the classroom and found Miyazaki leaning against the wall with his hands crossed. He looked at her with a glare, making it clear to Haruka that he completely hated her. She wondered why since she really hadn't done anything to him. Maybe he was going through his rebellious phase?

"So, what do you want?" He told her rudely, rolling his eyes. If she was any other teacher, he probably would have been suspended a long time ago. But, that was her problem. Haruka didn't have the guts to do something like that and she was sure Miyazaki could sense that fear too. That was probably the reason why he started picking on her since day one. She was an immature and inexperienced high school teacher. "I thought you sent me out here so you can continue teaching. Still, you can't teach for sh-"

Haruka held up her hand, stopping him from finishing his sentence. "I don't understand why you're like this and I don't know how you treated your previous teachers, but this has to stop. You've been causing nothing but trouble and I'm getting really tired of it. You can't keep behaving this way. If you keep that behavior, I really will send you to the principal's office and I'll let him deal with you and your parents. Do you understand?"

"It's not like I haven't been there before." He told her, shrugging his shoulders and acting like he didn't even care. He looked out the window as he placed his hands behind his head. "You can do whatever you want. If they suspend me, then they'll actually be doing me a favor. Who wants to be in school anyways? It's so pointless to me."

"How can you say that?" Haruka asked him a bit surprised. She didn't understand why he was so negative and uncaring. It was in those moments, that Haruka missed her small children back in the elementary school. In that hour, they would probably making bracelets out of macaroni noodles. "Well, while you're in school, I need you to start turning in your work. I don't want you to fail my class because you didn't even bother to try. I'm sure you're a smart kid if you apply yourself."

"Me, smart? Yeah, right." He told her with a smirk and it wasn't until then that Haruka notice just how tall he really was. Now, that she was standing so close to him, she realized that her head was just above his shoulders. It was no wonder why he felt superior over her. "Don't come with that speech. Instead of wasting your time with me, why don't you just go back inside and continue on. They're ones that really want to learn."

Haruka stared at him a bit sadly before she let out a sigh. She didn't know what to do and part of her actually wanted to help him. She wanted to make him see the bright side of coming to school and how wonderful it was to learn new things. Shaking her head with disapproval, Haruka motioned him to go back inside. "C'mon. You need to copy tonight's homework and I hope you do it this time. It would really make me happy."

He didn't say anything, but Haruka could see his glare becoming a bit gentler. She smiled at him before she let him walk in first. She hoped she didn't have to do that everyday. Everything was just too stressful for her to handle and she didn't how much longer she could take it. Why in the world did they have to pick her anyways? Out of the entire elementary school, the only one fitted for a high school post was Naoki. His sturdy and unemotional face could probably scare everyone in heartbeat. She was the complete opposite of him and no one seemed to take her seriously; not her students nor her husband.

Haruka's heart suddenly dropped a bit as she thought of Yakumo. She sat down in her chair and looked at the picture frame she had in the corner of her desk. It was a picture of her and Yakumo and it was the only picture where they both actually looked happy. Haruka wished she could back to those days where she was able to smile sincerely and laugh genuinely. Their lives were so different now and they never seemed to have time for one another.

The day slowly passed by and Haruka couldn't be more happier to get out of the classroom. Still, before she headed home, she needed to go to the store and buy some groceries. The fridge was going empty again and Haruka was planning on cooking something for dinner. Even though she always ended up eating by herself, cooking always tended to make her feel better and it helped her distract her mind a bit.

Letting out a sigh, Haruka gripped on her purse as she walked down the sidewalk. She wondered what Yakumo was doing and she wondered if everything was going okay with the case he and Gotou were working on. They had had the same case for the entire week, but Haruka didn't know many details because Yakumo never told her anything. She knew that he didn't want her involved especially after what had happened, but still, did it hurt to talk to her every once in awhile? Haruka always felt so excluded whenever Yakumo and Gotou were around. They were always talking about things that she didn't understand.

Haruka suddenly perked her head when she saw a big crowd of people standing in front of a convenience store. They were all making a big fuss out of something and they all seemed pretty excited. Haruka stared at the crowd of people and she wondered what was going on. Letting curiosity get the best of her, Haruka started walking toward the crowd since the supermarket was in that direction anyways. She pushed herself through several people and managed to get a glimpse of what was going on inside the circle. Her jaw dropped when she realized that the crowd of people were watching a fight, a fight between two young boys.

Her eyebrows furrowed when she realized that one of the boys fighting was actually Kaoru Miyazaki, her homeroom student. She couldn't believe it. Not only did he cause trouble in her class, he also caused trouble in the streets. Haruka looked at him as he punched the other guy hard in the face. Blood immediately poured out the other guy's nose as he tumbled down to the ground. Miyazaki wasn't exactly scratchless. He had blood trickling down his mouth as well as the edge of his eye. He looked tired like if he had just ran a marathon. He was still wearing his white uniform shirt which probably meant that he hadn't gone home at all.

Miyazaki looked at his opponent again as he slowly started to stand up from the ground. The crowd of people were actually cheering them on and Haruka didn't understand why they hadn't called the police already. Were they really planning to watch them until the beat each other to death? When Miyazaki was about to attack his opponent again, Haruka pushed herself through the rest of crowd to get to him and by impulse, she grabbed his arm, stopping him from doing anymore damage.

"Miyazaki-san! What in the world are you doing?!" She snapped at him as she pulled him back angrily. She couldn't believe him. Why was he going around making everyone lives miserable? He looked at her a bit surprised, wiping some blood of his lips. "Stop this madness right now!"

He groaned as he turned to look at the guy he was fighting. His hands curled up into fists and he looked ready to charge at any moment. "Stay out of this! This isn't any of your business! You might be able to boss me around in class, but you sure as hell aren't going to tell me what to do out here! I can do whatever I want so go bother someone else! Get lost! I'm busy!"

Haruka ignored him and she wasn't going to let him talk to her that way. "Whether you like or not, I'm your teacher and I worry about you! I'm not going to let you kill yourself!" She grabbed his wrist and started pulling him away from the crowd, not caring what other people would think. She didn't stop walking until she made it to a bench outside a small cafe shop.

Even so, it surprised her to see that he wasn't protesting anymore. He was actually quiet and he wasn't scolding at her for stopping him. Letting out a sigh, Haruka motioned him to sit down as she started looking around her purse for a handkerchief. "Seriously, you need to think before you do these kinds of things. What would have happened if the police came along? They would have arrested you and then you would have gotten into some serious trouble for sure. Or what if another teacher caught you fighting that way? They would expel you without any hesitation. Look at your shirt. It's full of blood. What are your parents going to think when they see you like this?"

"I don't have any parents."

Haruka stopped scrummaging through her purse as a pang of sadness developed inside her chest. She bit her lips and she couldn't help but feel sorry for him. Maybe that was the reason why he acted so rebellious. He didn't have any parents. He didn't have anyone to guide him. He was alone. He was alone like her. "You shouldn't be picking fights, Miyazaki-san." Haruka quickly said, changing the topics as she pulled out a small handkerchief. "Here. Wipe some of that blood of your face at least."

He took the handkerchief from her hand and he slowly starting doing what he was told. Then, he let out a sigh before he leaned back against the bench. "Thanks. I probably would have kept on going until I passed out. It wasn't the first time that guy and I fought. I beat him last time and the time before that. I'm sure I would have beaten him this time too."

Haruka didn't exactly know what to say. As a teacher, she was suppose to give him advice, but she her mind had just drawn a blank. Scratching the back of her head, Haruka let out a sigh as she looked up at the sky. "Don't let it happen again. I won't let it slide so easily next time."

"Yeah, right. You have no authority at all." He told her plainly, making her pout. She already knew that and she definitely didn't want to be reminded. "You're not fitted to be a high school teacher at all and your teaching stinks. I wasn't lying when I said you were boring. Maybe it's the subject, but I think it's just you. Maybe you should have tried working as the Gym Coach assistant assistant's assistant. That's probably more suited for you."

Crossing her hands, Haruka tried not to let his dumb comment get to her. "Whether you like it or not, you're stuck with me as your teacher for who knows how long, so you better do your homework. I'm not going to feel sorry for you when report cards come out. I'll gladly give you a failing grade."

"I guess you're not too bad as person." He told her with a small smile, a smile Haruka hadn't seen since she had gotten there. He held out her handkerchief, showing her the blood stains. "I guess I'll wash this for you. I don't think you want my blood all over this."

"Just keep it." Haruka told him as she fixed her purse around her shoulder. She needed to shop for some groceries for the it got dark. She hated being out so late at night since the darkness always tended to creep her out. "I'll see you tomorrow in class and please don't forget to do your homework."

"I'll probably forget." He told her bluntly, making Haruka roll her eyes. Even after everything she had done for him, he was still acting disobedient. "As long as I don't forget to come to class. Right...sensei?"

Haruka shook her head, but a small smile managed to escape her lips. She was about to start walking away when Miyazaki reached out to grab her wrist. She quickly turned around to look at him, wondering what was wrong. "Miyazaki-san?"

"By any chance, did you happened to know Akari? Akari Yoshino?" He asked her and his face almost looked desperate. Haruka stared at him a bit confused, not knowing what he was talking about. As far as she knew, she had never heard that name before. She wondered why Miyazaki was bringing it up to her. "Are you related to her?"

"I don't know what you're talking about." Haruka told him as she pulled her hand from his grasp. She stared at him a bit strangely and she could see his mouth slowly curving into a frown. "I'm sorry, but I don't know who she is."

"Oh, nevermind then. I'll see you tomorrow." He quickly told her as he put his hands in his pockets. He turned around in the opposite direction, but before he started walking away, he tilted his head to say a few more words to her. "I'm sorry for all the trouble I caused you, Sensei."

With that, he gave her a small smile before he started heading down the sidewalk. Haruka stared at him and she couldn't help but wonder what else could be troubling him. It was already sad enough that he didn't have any parents. Letting out the millionth sigh, Haruka pulled out her cellphone from her purse and was sad to realize that she zero missed calls. She slowly closed her eyes and let the gentle breeze sooth her hair.

She had her own problems to worry about.

…